Fungai's forward role

Andrew ‘Fungai’ Mutepfa has taken on the extra responsibility of player-coach at Abbey.

He was pack leader last season and will now double up as the first-team squad’s forwards coach.

Abbey are hoping to bring through some of their young forwards this year and a lot of them returned to training at the start of June – a month earlier than the rest of the squad – for specialist training with Fungai.

Alan Kilford, who took over from Glen Hunt as director of rugby midway through last season, will continue in the role, while full-back Tom Waterhouse will once again captain the side.

Mike Dye, who has been mentored by Berkshire Physiotherapy Centre, is the club’s new physio, while three candidates are under consideration for the job of team manager.

Abbey will be boosted by the signing of Alex Borthwick, who represented Wales Under-19s and spent 18 months at Gloucester’s Academy.

The young centre is a friend of Abbey prop Arun Johar Gupta and after studying in Exeter is now going to be attending St Mary’s College, Twickenham.

Borthwick, who is back living locally, has already attended pre-season training, but will not be available for selection until September when he has fully recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him last season.

Abbey’s first pre-season friendly will be at Havant on Saturday August 21. The club also plan to have a run-out the following Wednesday.

But an opponent has yet to be arranged so the midweek fixture may end up being a squad match between a mixture of first and second-team players.

Director of rugby Kilford said: “We picked up a few injuries in pre-season matches last summer so we are not playing so many this time.

“Those two should be enough to get our sharpness.”

The club finished ninth out of 14 in South West 1 East last season and begin their new campaign at home to Wimborne on September 4.

Kilford added: “Our aim is to improve on last year and bring through the young players we have at the club rather than purchase players.”

Abbey are also in the process of planning an 11-day tour to South Africa for next August. The first-team squad would be based in Cape Town.